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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24846598">Defining Fatherhood</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naithom/pseuds/Naithom'>Naithom</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Family Fluff, Father Figures, Father's Day, Fatherhood, Loss of Parent(s), Parenthood, School, Tooth-Rotting Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 06:34:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>709</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24846598</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Naithom/pseuds/Naithom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A Father's Day gift to MFMM to all the fathers of choice and to honor the fathers no longer here.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jack Robinson &amp; Jane Ross, Phryne Fisher &amp; Jack Robinson, Phryne Fisher &amp; Jane Ross, Phryne Fisher/Jack Robinson</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>177</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Defining Fatherhood</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>If you had asked Jack Robinson a year ago if what the chances were that he would be participating in a Parents’ Night, he would have suggested you had been concussed. But here he was, sitting next to Phryne.</p><p>Phryne, sensing his emotions gently placed her hand over his and gave him a reassuring smile. Ironically, Jane had suggested that he should come to offer moral support to her adopted mother since this was going to be her first Parents’ Night meeting.</p><p>The meetings with the teachers had gone as expected, all the teachers praised Jane’s academics and it was clear which teachers appreciated Jane’s sense of fair play and the fact that she didn’t suffer fools, and which ones didn’t.</p><p>The parents had then all met in the auditorium where students would be making presentations. As each student came and went Phryne realized that the reoccurring theme of the students was something that Jane could not have studied in school – the subject was Father’s Day and fatherhood.</p><p>Phryne quickly glanced at her partner questioningly – How was Jane going to speak on this subject? Jack could only shake his head slightly and shrug. It was apparent Jane had kept the subject matter of her speech to herself.</p><p>Jane came to the podium when called and took a deep, cleansing breath.</p><p>“My father’s name was Michael Rowan Ross. He was born in Northcote on June 18, 1892. He worked as a machinery hand. He and my mother married six weeks before he joined the 18th Infantry Battalion. I never met him because he died at Gallipoli three and a half months before I was born. Because my mother became very ill when I was very young and I don’t know any of my father’s family, I learned most of what I know about my father from researching military and genealogical records at the public library and the Royal Historical Society. I don’t know if he liked to fish or his favorite footy team. I don’t know if he was quiet or boisterous, if he did well in school, or even if he knew at the age of 23 if he was going to be a father. It’s disquieting to know that somewhere in a cemetery in Turkey, a man I never knew, not much older than I am now, is buried and, if he hadn’t done what he did, I wouldn’t be here.”</p><p>Jane paused for a second and then started again.</p><p>But, there’s another man, who served in the war who is responsible for me being here and his name is Detective Inspector Jack Robinson.” </p><p>Jack looked at Phryne in shock and she merely put her finger to his lips and squeezed his hand.</p><p>“He stuck his neck out for me when I was a kid living on the streets and he made sure that I was adopted into a home where I am loved and cared for when he could have just let me go to welfare. We are not blood kin, but I know more about him than I do my birth father. I know he works long hours protecting people. I know his favorite sandwich is ham, cheese, and mustard pickle. I know his hair is curly if he doesn’t put pomade on it and that his eyes get bright blue when he smiles. I know that he barracks for Abbotsford, and he likes long-distance bicycling. He helps me with homework, listens to me when I’m upset, and makes me laugh. As Miss Phryne says, he’s saved our lives in more ways than he will ever know. </p><p>He probably didn’t figure on becoming a father figure but he has. He doesn’t live with us but he’s just as much a part of the family as my adopted mother, Miss Phryne, and Dot and Mr. B. He loves us and we love him and that makes a family just as surely as blood does.  </p><p>Some children call the father in their life Dad or Pa or Uncle or Grandfather. I call mine Inspector.”</p><p>Jack, for the life of him, couldn’t tell you what any other child said that entire evening. He was too busy counting the minutes before he could wrap his arms around his little girl.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thanks to Bijoux53 for correcting a cultural term. Apparently, I almost got Jane thrown out of school, and Jack thrown out of town for the improper use of the term root when it comes to sports teams. That said, it's giving me some incredible ideas for a humor piece...</p><p>Thanks, B!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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